Ofsted feedback

I am writing to inform you that the Ofsted Inspection report from the visit to the nursery on the 11th January will be published soon.

The draft report that has been sent to us, is not reflective of the discussion I had with the Inspector on the day, therefore I had requested for it not be published until OFSTED had had an opportunity to consider our feedback. We have written an extremely detailed letter to Ofsted outlining the discrepancies between feedback on the day and what is written in the report. Ofsted have 30 days to respond to our complaint. Unfortunately, this will not prevent the report being published in its current form.

The process and procedure that is in place for Ofsted to make judgements against is very stringent. Should there be one area that does not meet the learning and development requirements then there is no alternative but to grade this area as requires improvement or inadequate.

The Inspector did feedback to the management team and myself that she found some inconsistencies in the process for recording the observations and assessments undertaken on children’s achievements, which in turn can then make it difficult to demonstrate plans in place for their next steps.

The Inspector whilst rightly pointing this out was extremely complimentary about the staff’s interaction with the children and how invested the nursery teams are as a whole in the children’s progress. She stated that she could see that children are making progress in their development however inconsistencies in record keeping can make this difficult to prove.

We were as a team immediately reflective of this area for improvement and actions were put into place to meet these with immediate effect. As always, we strive to achieve the best for the families and reflective practice will enable us to do this well.

We were exceedingly disappointed to read the draft Inspection report which has graded all areas as requires improvement. This was not reflective of the Inspector’s feedback at all.

We always regard highly any feedback we are given, be it from the County Council staff who support nursery settings to improve on practice or OFSTED as our regulatory body.We do however also have a strong belief in our own ethos and what we deliver to your children. Our commitment to progressing in the best interests of our families will always remain our priority.

We will update you on our complaint to Ofsted as soon as we have information

Please do not hesitate to contact myself or one of the management team should you have any further questions.